RED TAIL HAWK CORP

Red Tail Hawk Corporation is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based medical device R&D company led by John W. Parkins, Ph.D. (President and PI), specializing in occupational health technology for hearing loss prevention. The company has received SBIR funding from the Department of Health and Human Services (NIOSH/CDC) under grant R43-OH011145 and R44-OH011145 to develop a novel wireless in-ear personal noise dosimeter (wiPND) called the RTHwiPND system. The research addresses a critical public health problem: four million US workers daily are exposed to damaging noise, and ten million Americans suffer from noise-related hearing loss, costing an estimated $242 million annually in worker's compensation. Traditional shoulder-worn noise dosimeters provide inaccurate estimates of protected exposure levels, while in-ear dosimeters (iPNDs) offer superior measurement but are impeded by wired connections. Red Tail Hawk's innovation uses RFID (radio frequency identification) wireless technology to transmit noise level data from an in-ear earplug microphone to a remote processor, eliminating the wire hazard while directly measuring sound exposure in the ear canal. The system provides novel features to prevent noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and improve worker acceptance of personal noise dosimetry. The company holds a related US patent application (US20170312135A1) on this technology. Red Tail Hawk serves NIOSH, industrial hygienists, employers with hearing conservation programs, and occupational health professionals.